Surgery Godfather
Chapter 1001 - 836: Is It Surgery or Magic?

Chapter 1001: Chapter 836: Is It Surgery or Magic?

Having performed surgeries for over twenty years, Director Shi had never seen such skin cutting before; this skill with the knife was not just good, it looked more like a performance than surgery.

"One-Stroke Flow!"

Director Fang, who knew his stuff, promptly explained to his senior colleague.

His senior had recently come to observe at the operating table, and naturally, Director Fang needed to accompany him. With Professor Yang’s surgery underway, how could they proceed without a qualified commentator? Otherwise, his senior might end up confused, which would seriously affect his mood.

Old Fang knew that Yang Ping’s skin cutting technique had come to be called One-Stroke Flow, and it had become his trademark move,

Even Yang Ping’s two chief disciples, Song Zimo and Xu Zhiliang, had now mastered the One-Stroke Flow, though not quite as skillfully; theirs could only be considered so-so at best.

Even a so-so One-Stroke Flow is probably a rarity in the world. This technique might look easy, but it’s extremely difficult to execute. People have varying thicknesses and resilience of skin in different areas; achieving just the right depth with a single cut, such that with each slice you can finely sense the tissue being touched, identify the layer reached, and then have these signals feedback to the brain to control the force of the cut is a huge challenge.

"One-Stroke Flow? Why haven’t I heard of this type of incision before?" Director Shi had never come across such a novel term.

Director Fang had no choice but to continue patiently explaining in detail, "This is Professor Yang’s signature skin cutting move. It means that no matter what the surgery is, the incision from the epidermis to the dermis, and then to the subcutaneous tissue, is all done in one go, without the need for a second cut, not too deep, not too shallow, not too long, not too short."

There’s such a technique? Director Shi was thunderstruck, "Bloody hell, it’s just cutting skin, and you’ve gone and created your own school."

"The young ones are playful, but this is just the beginning. Just wait and you’ll see what’s called a miraculous surgery," boasted Director Fang smugly.

Shi Guosheng felt disgusted at how his junior brother could sink to such disgusting flattery, and even talk about ’miraculous surgery.’ Just how excellent must one be to reach a ’miraculous’ level? Yet here he was in front of him, saying he’ll see for himself. If it weren’t for his junior, he’d have surely given him a piece of his mind for being so presumptuous.

Since the optimal viewing angle for each step of the surgery differed, Director Shi had to adjust his position constantly. Fortunately, there was plenty of space around the operating table, so his movements didn’t cause any interruptions.

Wherever he moved, Director Fang followed, taking up the role of the commentator throughout the procedure.

The abdominal cavity was now open, and the first task was to explore the cavity. Exploration didn’t start with the pancreas but with the surrounding organs and peritoneal cavity to understand the approximate extent of the tumor’s invasion. The search started from the periphery and gradually contracted towards the center, with the pancreatic tumor being examined last.

Any preoperative imaging is, after all, indirect. The direct exploration during surgery was the true way to understand the tumor’s condition, and it required an extensive range of exploration.

They needed to check how far the tumor had invaded the liver; the condition of lymph node metastasis around the hepatic portal, the peritoneal arteries, and especially the lymph nodes near the aorta and the Treitz ligament; the location and course of the intestinal mesentery blood vessels, the right liver artery, and whether there were any tumor plantings in the peritoneum or pelvis, among other things. Finally, they explored the pancreatic tumor, with Yang Ping’s movements extremely gentle to avoid damaging and dispersing the tumor tissue.

As he explored, he swiftly laid down gauze, preparing for the subsequent steps of the surgery.

Although exploration began from the periphery, separation would start from the center. As the tumor originated from the pancreas, anatomical separation began there.

"Tissue scissors!"

The tools in Yang Ping’s hands seemed to have a life of their own; the scissors cutting through smoothly, unimpeded, avoiding or preemptively clamping, ligating, and cutting any blood vessels that stood in the way.

The peritoneal forceps clamped the peritoneum and connective tissues on the upper and lower edges of the pancreas, and the tail end of the forceps was passed to Song Zimo, who immediately flipped the pancreas and spleen to the right side—revealing up to the origin of the splenic artery on the upper edge and down to where the inferior mesenteric vein joins the splenic vein on the lower edge.

When the pancreas was exposed, everyone was shocked because the pancreas was severely deformed by the tumor invasion to the point it was impossible to distinguish what was tumor and what was pancreas.

Moreover, the pancreas and the tumor mass were severely adhered to the surrounding areas—many began to shake their heads. With such an unfavorable start, how could the surgery continue?

"Scalpel!"

The scissors in his hand were swapped for a scalpel—the separation was upgraded.

There are two methods of separation, beginning with blunt separation. As the name suggests, it involves the use of duller instruments to separate tissue, commonly employing the back of a knife handle, the tip of the scissors, the pointed end of vascular clamps, or fingers. Blunt separation must utilize natural boundaries and gaps within loose connective tissue, much like an explorer following existing roads.

Blunt separation tears the connective tissues apart by pulling, but if there are no natural boundaries or gaps within the loose connective tissue, this method is rendered ineffective—for example, when a tumor is infiltrating an organ. How could blunt separation work then?

Sharp separation is different; it uses tissue scissors and surgical knives to separate, opting for cutting over tearing the connections, which naturally provides more precision and less damage but requires higher skill and carries greater surgical risks. It’s like the explorer having no more roads to follow and therefore must carve out a path.

Tissue scissors are the basic tool for sharp separation, but a scalpel is even more precise. However, the risk increases proportionally, and few surgeons dare to use a scalpel for sharp separation due to the high risk of causing unintentional damage.